Luxury Hotel Rooms on a Budget

Adam Baer is a contributing editor at Inc. A widely published writer, he's worked as a New York Times tech-section regular, an NPR cultural producer, and as Travel + Leisure's tech correspondent. He lives in Los Angeles.

Ever wish you could bid for a hotel room on eBay? The website Off & Away lets you vie for discounted rooms at more than 100 swank properties, including the Pierre in New York City. To compete in an auction, you buy $1 bids. Each time you make a bid, the price of the room goes up by 10 cents. The highest bidder at the end of 18 hours wins. One winner recently made $117 in bids and scored two nights in a suite at The Palms Las Vegas for $55.30, for a total of $172.30, a 92 percent discount. Losers can apply the cost of used bids toward rooms at 100,000 less-fancy hotels on Off & Away.